CH 16

RAW:

Xant: And so ends the second arc. A PDF and EPUB will be available within 24 hours.

Chapter 16 – Mysterious Ghost Mansion End

“Yes, I will deliver your part of the reward.”

When we came out of the mansion it was already dark, so we decided to split up and meet at the guild in the morning. When we explained what had happened, the glasses person…..Rintei-san really didn’t believe us. The guild people investigated the mansion and by the time they had finished it was already evening. The end result was that it had been confirmed that everything was resolved. Everything about this quest was strange, it totally exceeded our expectations. (TL:  しかし、そこで判明したのは事件が解決しても尚怪奇と言わざるを得ない、ボク達の予想を上回る事実だった。)

“The client Francois’ corpse has been found. According to the soldiers, one year has passed since her death. She hung herself in her room but because the rope was so decayed she fell on the floor, rotting, and was in an awful state.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’m sure that she was still alive when we had discussed the state of the mansion. She even made dinner.

“Th-then Francois-san who we talked with…”

“Was in fact a <Vengeful> ghost.”

“Wu-wwhaaaaaaaat~~~!”

Rintei raised his glasses with his middle finger. Roel opened her mouth shouting “Wu-whaaaaaa!” Even though she did a good job on this quest, it seems she wasn’t aware of some things. At any rate, is it true that she committed suicide before she gave out the request? For such a thing to be left alone for a year…

“It seems I was quite inept about handling the quest documents. Why didn’t I notice that this quest had been here for a whole year…”

“Weren’t there any others who took the quest?”

“Yes, let me just…huh? Where did the quest documents go?”

Suddenly, Rintei started fumbling around searching for the quest documents. He searched everywhere. Under the counter and on the floor, but in the end the quest documents weren’t found.

“I just had it here, didn’t I? That’s weird, it couldn’t have been blown away by the wind…”

“Yeah, it was placed on top of the counter. If someone took it I would’ve noticed it.”

It was as if it wasn’t there to begin with, that one sheet of paper just suddenly vanished.

“The one who found the quest document originally was Roel-san, right?”

“Yes, I was looking for a quest for D ranks.”

“Even so, 1 whole year…Fumu, it’s weird for that to have been here.”

When Francois committed suicide, the quest documents should have disappeared. The quest we took just now may have been the Ghost’s request. Ok, that just sounds stupid. Though regardless of how it sounds, it just happened. It was a situation I really couldn’t explain.

“The lady…perhaps…wanted to be saved…waiting eternally…someone…to save her…”

“As I thought, it may have been her lingering feelings…There isn’t anything I can do about that.”

Well, disregarding how it all ended, there aren’t any strange phenomena or suffering spirits in that mansion now. It’s true that I was elated and felt a sense of achievement, but I only solved one case. With that in mind, I shouldn’t let myself be satisfied with just this.

【Received 4000G reward!】

“Now both of your ranks have been raised from D to C. Congratulations.”

“T-thank you very much!”

“No, it was my fault to begin with”

I finally raised myself to C rank. With this, we can start taking higher level quests. Though if I want to raise my rank up to B it seems that I have to take an examination. I’m currently a Sword Fighter, but if I changed to a higher level class then I can use more techniques. I’ll become much stronger and be able to quickly improve. (TL: 更に 力強く 、更に速く なれる とも 聞い た。) Doing that…I would be one step closer to the “One-winged demon”.

That demon that destroyed my village…I will kill it with my own hands.

“AAA~~!!! You guys are already C rank?!”

I flinched at the sudden loud voice. I turned around and saw Aude carrying his spear.

“Good, good! Hey, Rintei-san! I worked hard enough so it should be fine for me as well, right?”

Rudely making his entrance, he pushed himself between us and went over to the counter.

“Aude-san, only a little more. Give it your best.”

“Kaaaa~~~! You, I will absolutely outrank you!”

Aude just finished settling his quest, and proceeded to measure his level. Before I knew it he became a rival. This is clearly going to be a pain. Just now with Aude being here, with his sudden appearance and rudeness, made my mood a little sour.

The results of checking our levels were as follows; Roel’s level raised by 4 and it seems Tolppo’s level raised by 2. The bone monster might have given us a large sum of experience, and Francois may have as well.

【Ryua     Lv: ??Class: Sword FighterRank: C】 【Roel     Lv: 9 Class: HealerRank: C】 【Tolppo Lv: 15Class: MagicianRank: C】

“My level su~~~~~re raised!”

Aude shouted from the neighboring box as he was coming out from it.

/ / /

“Thank you for today.”

“Grateful…to you.”

I wonder what she meant by that. Even after all of that, I still wasn’t able to understand this girl.

“<Vengeful> ghost-type…outside of calculation…both of you…grateful.”

“For such a thing to be in this world…”

I remembered the strength of that <Vengeful> ghost. Was that really a <Vengeful> ghost?

“Vengeful ghost-type…simply strength…wrong…regrets and thought…is its power…but Ryua…you defeated it…who are you?”

If that’s the case, their strength gets stronger depending on the person’s thoughts and regrets. But I won’t yield to something like that. I won’t just simply lay down and die like that.

Now onto a different issue. I wonder if this girl will listen and believe me, unlike the others.

“Tolppo, have you heard of the <Caves of Hell>?”

“Hell…?”

I talked about the 10 years of my life. I couldn’t see her expression, but I understood that she was seriously listening.

“Ryua’s story…if true…amazing…Hell…King of Destruction…heard something like that…somewhere…”

She thought about it for a while, but it seems she can’t recall it. Roel was also surprised. Now that I think of it, I hadn’t told her yet.

“Ryua-chan, that’s amazing…”

I even could even hear Roel swallowing her saliva. So, within 10 years I was able to reach the end of the 100 floor dungeon and conquer it. It is something I’m proud of myself for accomplishing. No matter how dreadful a <Vengeful> ghost is, it won’t be able to dent my pride. That dungeon…now that I think about it, why did I enter that scary dungeon? Maybe because I was a child back then. I totally can’t recall anything about that time.

“I’ll be off here…return to the inn…Ryua, Roel…good night…”

“Yeah, good night. Don’t stay up too late.”

I tried being a little worried, but Tolppo wasn’t particularly responding. As I thought, this girl doesn’t like being attached.

“You guys…if you have the opportunity…visit…Wizard Kingdom…that…hometown…mine.”

“Wizard Kingdom?”

“It’s a country that develops magic techniques, and is a country full of wizards. I heard that their livelihood is supported completely by magic. Tolppo-chan was a magician there, right.”

Tolppo was starting to walk off as she nodded. Wizard Kingdom…someday I would like to go there.

Tolppo made an awkward goodbye and walked towards the inn. We also went back to our home. Yesterday and today, it was very exhausting. Ghost-type, Vengeful ghost, becoming a monster, and then Wizard Kingdom. It was my first time hearing about these things. As I thought, there’s a mountain of things that I don’t know about the outside world.

“Wasn’t she a little weird, that girl?”

“Yeah, but I think she was just awkward.”

I feel like no matter who Roel is with she would always be gentle with her words. But I wonder if I was of much use to her this time.

“My stomach sure is empty, and I imagine yours is as well. I haven’t been shopping yet so are the leftover ingredients fine?”

“It’s totally fine, no matter what you make I will eat it.”

“Then, salt soup.”

“No!”

I know that it was a joke but I still pout about it. Roel was giggling as she smiled, she was thinking of another dish. Today we were also able to survive, I reflected on the quest while sleeping in a narrow bed. Tomorrow…is another day, different as always for an adventurer.

I recalled the monster that attacked me while I was on a stroll that one night. I wonder, what was that monster? Who were those people? I didn’t want to make Roel uneasy so I hadn’t told her about it. It’s starting to bother me…but if I talk about it, something might happen to her and she may get hurt… It would be better if I don’t talk about it, ever. I think things are fun right now.

The lasting lights of other buildings reminded me of our peaceful and everyday lives.

///Tolppo’s Perspective///

I turned myself away from those 2 and walked while looking at the sky. Today, if they weren’t there I definitely would’ve died during the quest. We were somehow able to communicate and soothe the spirits of the little girl and her father. That underground room I was inside of…it seemed like a place that was part of a completely different dimension. That <Mortal Ghost> is something B rank Adventurers should be able to easily defeat. I’ve had a hard time working in a party. And Ryua, that girl simply used her bare arms to defeat it. It seems she trained at the <Caves of Hell>, but I haven’t heard of that dungeon.

——wait, no, I think I heard about it… somewhere…

However, I can’t remember so I can’t do anything about it. If I ask Sage Hasto-sama he might know of it. I’m baffled by Ryua, but I’m more concerned about Roel, that girl. I haven’t heard that using Heal on the Vengeful ghost can make it into a Monster. Originally, a class with a specialty suited for that kind of quest, Exorcist, should be required. Then the Ghost-type monsters, I still don’t understand much about them. It may have been because the general concept of humans dying and the aftermath is still an unknown domain. The living dead, in most cases, endangers people. I wonder if there is an explainable phenomenon that causes these outrageous events. It’s really troublesome that there are many monsters like that, and there is a specialty class for dealing with each of them. It may have been a good quest to take, but back then I thought of abandoning it. (TL: 実を言うとあの依頼は引き受けたはいいけど、ちょうど破棄しようと思っていた。) But because the 2 of them came along I felt like I had to do it, though I had a pleasant feeling as I accepted it.

“Those two…who are they…?”

My journey to study is about to end, it’s a good time to return to the Wizard Kingdom. I may learn something if I ask Vardam-sama. Inside my mind, even more than studying, the existence of those 2 left their mark. In the morning, I’ll leave the inn then go trough Avangarde Kingdom Castle to the harbor. I’m looking forward to an answer for my question, so I quickly went towards the inn.

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Monster Book

【Mortal Ghost】 HP: 332

It’s a floating ghost that became a monster after inhaling noxious gas. It prefers to haunt places with a feeling of loss. You have to deal with its large array of magic spells and high endurance. Inexperienced adventurers will not be able to subjugate one.

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